The contemporary power supply equipment for large computers such as industrial computers or servers generally includes a plurality of parallel power supply devices connecting to a back panel. The back panel has a power distribution circuit to integrate and distribute DC power transformed from an external power to loads at the rear end. ON/OFF processes of the power supply devices are controlled by an external PS ON/OFF signal provided by an external controller (through a power supply switch or an I2C remote control). The back panel has a control unit to receive the PS ON/OFF signal and outputs a Remote ON/OFF signal to drive all power supply devices.
The large computers such as the industrial computers or servers usually are installed in a machine room. During installation, the external electric power has to be connected to the power supply devices before the computer can be installed. If the external power is interrupted or a portion of external power is missed during installation, or more than one external power is connected to the power supply equipment (such as external DC and AC power are connected at the same time), when machine boot up operation takes place for the computer, because of no machine boot up protection structure on the power supply devices, only a portion of the power supply devices that are connected to the external power can transform the external power to output. Other power supply devices that are not connected to the external power can receive the machine boot up signal issued by the control unit, but remain in an OFF condition because of no external power input. In such an abnormal condition, the starting power supply devices become overloaded. As a result, jumping or burn-out of the power supply devices could happen after the machine boot up. The cause of power supply devices burn-out is difficult to determine. Hence the entire set of the power supply equipment has to be sent back to the power supply producer for inspection and repairs. This is especially troublesome for the producer. The inspection and repairs resulting from poor problem determination not only incur extra costs, also cause damage to company reputation and image.